Hey all! We (MSP) took over IT services from an internal guy at a local doctor’s office. 2 servers, 40 some computers. Pretty sizeable building. It was evident that the internal guy didn’t really know what he was doing… We had several computers that we could not put our RMM on due to lack of domain communication. So, we set our sights on fixing that. First, we redid the network. New switches, WiFi, fixed two network loops, DHCP scopes & IP conflicts all resolved - mainly caused by using Routers as APs. We rebooted everything after the network was redone, hoping to see better domain communication. No go, still issues. Here’s a small layout of their servers:
PDC: 2012 Standard server, holds all roles.
Data Server: 2019 Standard, on the domain, but does not communicate to the domain.
So, I spun up a 2016 VM on the 2019 server & put it on the domain. It will not let me promote to DC as it does not communicate to the VM. I begun looking into the DNS server on the 2012 server & poked around. It was evident that the server’s IP had been changed SEVERAL times. So, I begun cleaning up the DNS server’s entries of the old IPs, etc. Made it pretty similar to another 2012 Standard Server a client still has in use. Also used that server to cross reference some ADSI as we were told that the PDC may have been renamed at some point, although, I find no ADSI or DNS evidence of that.
My DNS settings are correct, have done this tons of times, have had senior engineers look it over, & even my father, who’s been a sys admin at a huge company for 20+ years. We are all stumped. We are about to just spin up a new domain & do it all right.
Any ideas? Other than calling Microsoft? Haha.
Thanks in advance!